Homemade Barley

Singapore's weather is so hot that you need to make your own herbal tea to reduce your body's heatiness. I googled online for homemade barley recipe, but the barley was way too thick for me. I prefer something lighter.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Pearl Barley
1/3 cup Rock Sugar (I usually go for yellow rock sugar)
5 pieces Watermelon Skin

~ Step 1 ~ 

Add in all ingredients in a large pot, preferably those you use to cook soup.

~ Step 2 ~

Add in four litres of water, and bring to boil. If you love to eat the barley seeds (just like my boy and I), boil for another 15 minutes when you see bubbles started to form.

Enjoy your barley drink!

Sweet Bread

The first bread I made when I bought my bread maker. The recipe was from my Aunt, so no trial and error for me. This sweet bread tasted awesome.

Ingredients:

300 grams High Protein / Wholemeal Flour (I use Bread Flour)
200ml Water
60grams Dried Sliced Cranberries
30grams Sugar
30grams Butter
1 tablespoon Milk Powder
1/2 tablespoon Yeast
1/2 teaspoon Salt

~ Step 1 ~ 

Pour water into bread pan, followed by flour. 

~ Step 2 ~

Add in butter, sugar, and milk powder. I skipped the salt as I'm using salted butter. 

~ Step 3 ~

Next would be dried cranberries. For bread's ingredients, you can replace with nuts, raisins or sesame seeds. I once used chocolate chips, and ended up with a chocolate bread.

~ Step 4 ~ 

Lastly, add in yeast, and we are good to go.

 
~ Step 5 ~

I selected basic recipe with loaf size of 500grams bread, and medium crust colour (I usually go for light crust). The whole process from kneading to baking took three and a half hours.

My boy was quite fascinated with the bread maker. Lol..

I put too little cranberries when I made last week, so I increased my cranberries from 30grams to 60grams.

 
My perfect sweet bread with lots of cranberries, and light crust this time. Yeah!

Nutella Popsicle

This recipe is so easy your child can make it in seconds.

Ingredients:

2 cups Cool Whip
1 cup Milk
6 tablespoons Nutella

~ Step 1 ~ 

Put all ingredients into a blender, and mix well.

~ Step 2 ~

Pour the creme into popsicle mould, and freeze for three hours. You may check after two hours, but I waited for three just in case.

~ Step 3 ~

Enjoy your Nutella popsicle. We totally love it!

Homemade Lemonade

Try out this simple lemonade recipe where your child can learn to make it too.

Ingredients:

4 Lemons
1/2 cup Sugar or Honey
1/2 cup Hot Water
4 cups Cold Water

~ Step 1 ~

Cut the lemons, and squeeze them with a juicer. Remember to remove lemon seeds.

~ Step 2 ~

Pour honey into a bowl. Add in hot water, and stir until honey dissolves.

~ Step 3 ~ 

Mix lemon juice, cold water, and honey solution in a large jug.

Serve with ice cubes, and enjoy your drink.

 

Banana Pancake

Since my boy loves bananas so much, we decided to make some banana pancakes.

Ingredients:

2 Bananas
1 Egg
1 cup Self-Raising Flour
3/4 cup Milk
1 tablespoon Butter

~ Step 1 ~

Your child can help to peel off the bananas' skin. Mash bananas in the bowl using a fork.

~ Step 2 ~

Break egg into bowl of mashed bananas, and whisk well till you get a smooth and creamy texture.

~ Step 3 ~ 

Add in flour, and half of the milk. Continue to beat for a minute, and stir in with rest of the milk.

~ Step 4 ~

Cover the mixture with a tea towel, and allow it to stand for half an hour.

~ Step 5 ~

Heat up frying pan, and add a teaspoon of butter. Pour in banana batter, and once bubbles are formed, turn pancake over carefully. Check that the other side is cooked until golden brown.

You can either eat it plain or top up with some fruits, and ice-cream.

Strawberry & Banana Smoothies

If your child does not like to eat fruits, try turning the fruits into smoothies instead. Get your child to help you out in making the drink. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Milk
1/4 cup Yoghurt
6 Strawberries or 1 Banana

 
~ Step 1 ~

Cut up the fruits into small pieces. I handed my boy with a butter knife, and off he went chopping the strawberries, and bananas. You could catch him beaming, feeling proud of himself. Alternatively, leave this job to your blender.

~ Step 2 ~

Pour milk, and yoghurt (both chilled) into the blender. Add in your desired fruits, and start blending. We made the strawberry, and banana smoothies separately.

~ Step 3 ~

Pour smoothie into a glass, and enjoy.

 

Omelette Muffin

I recently came across a video showing how to make an Omelette Muffin, and cannot wait to try it out with my boy. Honestly, I cannot cook at all...the only thing I knew was to cook instant noodles. 

Ingredients:

8 Eggs
1 Brown Onion (diced)
100grams Ham (diced)
60grams Mushroom (diced)
1 cup Cheddar Cheese (grated)
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Oil
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
Salt & Pepper 

~ Step 1 ~ 

Grate the cheese into a measuring cup. You can get pre-shredded one from supermarket. The reason why I bought a block version was for my boy to help out in grating the cheese. In this way, he would be able to enjoy the cooking process.

~ Step 2 ~

Chopped up all the mushroom, onion, and ham. You can choose other ingredients to your preference like bacon, chicken, carrots or bell pepper. Basically, just put in whatever you love to eat. 

~ Step 3 ~ 

Next, stir fry the chopped ingredients in a frying pan.

~ Step 4 ~

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees for 15 minutes. Make use of this time to prepare the egg batter.

~ Step 5 ~ 

Break the eggs in a bowl or into a large measuring jug. Add in baking powder, milk, oil (I use olive oil), salt, and pepper. Whisk them all up until you see mixed yellow liquid form.

~ Step 6 ~

Spray some oil into the muffin tray to prevent muffin from sticking to it while baking. I merely dropped some olive oil, and used a tissue paper to spread it all over. Mine is a non-stick one, but I still put some oil just in case.

~ Step 7 ~

Fill up the muffin tray with your stir fried ingredients. Top with grated cheese before pouring in egg batter. Bake them for 25 to 30 minutes.

~ Step 8 ~ 

Cool down for 5 minutes, and enjoy your meal.